Mystery of Missing Lakeland Electric Bills Solved

Friday

Apr 5, 2013 at 1:03 PMApr 5, 2013 at 10:31 PM

LAKELAND | The mystery of the missing Lakeland Electric bills may be solved.

By John ChamblissThe Ledger

LAKELAND | The mystery of the missing Lakeland Electric bills might be solved.U.S. postal officials said Friday that the estimated 3,000 to 5,000 missing or burnt Lakeland Electric bills might have been on a mail truck March 15 when it crashed south of Macon, Ga., on Interstate 75. The mail truck was traveling from Atlanta to Tampa when a car struck the truck."There was indeed first class mail on that truck," said John Friess, a spokesman with the U.S. Postal Service. "It makes sense."Lakeland Electric officials initially had said that 12,000 bills could have been on a truck in a crash on I-75 in Pasco County in March. Thousands of bills could have burned, they said.But postal officials said that the truck was carrying only standard mail and periodi­cals.Deputy General Manager Alan Shaffer said he's happy to have an answer."It explains things," Shaffer said. "I'm surprised it took so long for them to figure it out."The missing and burnt bill problem has stretched to Hillsborough County.Hillsborough County Public Utilities officials have said that nearly 7,000 customers, all billed on March 11, either haven't received a bill or received a burnt bill, according to ABC Action News in Tampa.Lakeland Electric's bills were printed on March 12 at Kubra, a Nashville, Tenn., printing company.Shaffer said Kubra received the job through a bidding process in 2005. The $750,000 annual contract with Kubra, which includes $460,000 for postage, ends this year.Utility officials determined that the bills were heading to East Lakeland. They received phone calls from customers who did not receive bills. And other East Lakeland customers sent in payments with bills that appeared to have been partially burnt.Those customers who did not receive a bill should receive a past-due notice next week. However, customers affected by the missing bills will not have to pay a late fee.Customers can call 863-834-9535 if they haven't received a bill yet.Shaffer said that many of the bills on the truck could have been delivered. He said the utility has received only dozens of phone calls regarding the bills."We still don't know the final numbers," Shaffer said. "But it's been very minor so far."

[ John Chambliss can be reached at john.chambliss@theledger.com or 863-802-7588. ]